Footsteps pounded the stairs, and Maddie looked up to see her mom drop a leather satchel on the bench by the front door. Strands of her long auburn hair hid her eyes as Kelley Finnerty Li reached inside one of the galvanized steel baskets home to everyone’s shoes, neatly tucked away by the cleaning lady. After pointing the toes of her stilettos toward the door, she stood and faced the kitchen, her wireless headset glued to her ear. Maddie was pretty sure her mom slept in the thing.

She gave a half-hearted nod to her children while simultaneously complaining about “him” and “joint assets.” Swap out “him” for “her,” and the conversation would be a replica of the one their dad had had less than half an hour ago. He’d breezed through the kitchen, side-hugging Danny, and on his way out, grabbed a muffin Maddie had made for Danny’s ride to camp later that afternoon.

Maddie still wished she were driving her brother to New Hampshire. But she had a six a.m. flight to San Francisco the next morning, had to finish packing, and needed to finalize a project for her most valuable client. The client that would have been her second most valuable client had she landed the company whose proposal she’d worked on for weeks. Besides, the camp owners had assured Maddie that the bus ride with other campers was a great bonding experience.

Bonding was something Maddie had zero interest in doing with this Lucy chick. Her butt was still buzzing from the girl. This is going to be a long five weeks. Maddie made a mental note to pack her noise-canceling headphones.

ValleyStart offered Maddie one thing and one thing only: a rock-solid entry on her résumé. With the prestige of the program behind her, she’d never lose another client, which meant she’d keep growing her graphic design business, which meant, most important, she could forgo college and stay right here in Cambridge with Danny.

That hadn’t been her original plan. But the allure of design school in Maryland had vanished four months ago when her grandparents, who lived in New York, were needed in Beijing more than they were in Cambridge. They’d been planning to move in to help with Danny after Maddie became a college freshman. But her grandmother’s sister was sick, and Danny, after all, had two healthy parents.

Physically, that is. Because nothing else about her parents and their relationship could be called “healthy.” At least not in the six years since their personal life merged with their professional one. Together, they’d founded an entertainment representation agency whose success consumed them—and who they used to be. Maddie had been taking care of Danny ever since.

Lately, things had gotten much worse. Not that they told Maddie; her only clue was that they now seemed to be communicating exclusively through lawyers.